The new sector-directed organisation, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), has endorsed its interim sector-led Council. The LSIS Council of 30 members appointed for the preliminary period was selected by The Single Voice, representing the sector, from over 70 applications. Members of the Council represent a broad range of provider organisations from across the FE and Skills community and, as members of the LSIS  charity, will provide the LSIS Board of trustees with advice and guidance from the sector. This newly-formed governance structure for LSIS is a vital step in establishing the organisation in its unique new sector-led role and its new relationship with government.

LSIS combines both the best aspects of two different and highly successful sector bodies, the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) and the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) and adds to the mix a third ingredient, the participation of this vibrant sector’s own talents of focusing on learners and on developing excellent and sustainable further education and skills provision. Chaired by Dame Ruth Silver DBE and Principal of Lewisham College, LSIS appointed its first sector-led Board and also its first Chief Executive Roger McClure in June 2008.

This first interim Council will be in place until the end of August 2009 when the sector itself will move to a sector-led election process to appoint Council members in future.

As well as advising the LSIS Board, the Council will monitor LSIS’s performance and give consent to its corporate plan on behalf of the sector.

The Council will be chaired jointly by Dame Ruth Silver and Graham Hoyle OBE, Chief Executive of the Association of Learning Providers.

Dame Ruth thanked The Single Voice for leading the process for identifying the initial membership of the Council.

“I am delighted that LSIS has not only a sector-led Board but also, now, a sector-led Council. We appreciate the leadership of Single Voice in managing the selection of this important dimension of LSIS’s governance. LSIS has been set up to be sector-directed and I am honoured by the quality and commitment of leaders from across the sector who have wished to become involved in shaping its work and future. Government is committed to the sector being self-regulating and self-improving; this is an important opportunity for the sector to step up and respond. We have attracted a wide range of individuals from across the sector to our new Council and we will work closely with them all to ensure that we recognise all perspectives as effectively as possible”

Commenting on the breadth of the new Council, Graham Hoyle, Chief Executive of the Association of Learning Providers, said:

“I am delighted with the interim membership of Council as fully representative of our sector. It of course includes many of our most-respected leaders of FE Colleges, Sixth Form Colleges, Adult Community Learning and the land based colleges. Importantly, however, they are joined by eight chief executives from Independent Learning Providers as well as leaders from Voluntary Sector organisations and education services. The involvement of representatives from both governing bodies and the boards of independent providers has ensured the creation of a broadly based Council that will provide the LSIS Board with the early direction and sector involvement that will be required to ensure the success of self-improvement in the sector.”

The LSIS council members include:

• Graham Hoyle OBE, LSIS Council Co-Chair, Chief Executive, Association of Learning Providers
• Dame Ruth Silver DBE, LSIS Council Co-Chair, Principal, Lewisham College
• Anthony Alderman, Chair of Governors, Barnet College
• Matt Atkinson, Principal and Chief Executive, City of Bath College
• Jim Chambers, Chief Executive, JHP Group Ltd
• Christina Conroy OBE, Principal and Chief, Executive Richmond Adult Community College
• Steve Crawley, Managing Director, TILAD Ltd
• Christine Davis, Principal and Chief Executive, Farnborough College
• Mark Dawe, Principal and Chief Executive, Oaklands College
• Fintan Donohue, Principal and Chief Executive, North Hertfordshire College
• Jonathon Godfrey, Principal, Hereford Sixth Form College
• Heather Green, Managing Director, Skills Solution
• Karen Grist, Deputy Principal, The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy
• Helen Groves, Chief Executive Officer, Humberside Learning Consortium
• Barbara Holm, Head of Service, Westminster Adult Education Service
• John Hyde, Chief Executive Officer, Hit Training
• Christine Jeffery, Managing Director, Academy of Training
• Lilian Mains, Chair and Managing Director, Zodiac Training Ltd.
• Sunaina Mann, Principal, North East Surrey College of Technology
• Chris Moody, Principal, Moulton College
• John Oakes, Vice Principal, Knowsley Community College
• Gill Reid, Deputy Principal, North Nottinghamshire College
• Sue Rimmer, Principal, South Thames College
• Peter Roberts, Principal, Stockport College
• Sarah Robinson, Principal and Chief Executive, Darlington College
• John Short, Chair of Governors, York College
• Mike Smith, Managing Director, Gen II Engineering & Technology Training Ltd
• Adam Suddaby, Vice Principal, Quality, students and staff, Leicester College
• Frances Wadsworth, Principal and Chief Executive, East Surrey College
• Paul Wakeling, Principal, Havering Sixth Form College
• Jill Westerman, Principal, Northern College
• Mark White, Governor, Stockton Riverside College.

Read more about the LSIS council and the council members here.